


Pre-Movie Night

by ultraviolence



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: F/M, Melinoe has major issues, Modern Era, lighter and fluffier, modern gods, ridiculousness abound, sibling fic-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2015-02-05
Packaged: 2018-03-10 14:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3293915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultraviolence/pseuds/ultraviolence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Macaria tries hard to keep the peace (and death-glares anyone who ruins it), Melinoe has some major issues, Zagreus is an innocent passerby constantly getting dragged into his siblings' BS, and Thanatos ruins things. Oneshot (ish).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pre-Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

> I tried very hard to write a sibling fic and failed. Sort of. This is the result. I really want to write the Underworld sibling triad trashtalking their parents, though, so there's probably going to be a follow-up. I hope. Either way, as always, comments / critiques / suggestions / prompts are welcome! xx

The sky was still bruising when they made their way to her brother’s place. Macaria doesn’t keep strictly nocturnal habits, unlike Thanatos (whom she teased about being a vampire), but she haven’t seen the fall of dusk since some two or three days or so. Having both a garden and a shop to tend (only sometimes for the latter, though both are technically her mother’s, and she’s strangely understanding about her not being able to help as often as she should have been), _and_ a nocturnal boyfriend will do that to you. Sometimes she’s not even sure how the hell did she managed to juggle all three things together. It must have something to do with being a goddess.

She watches the sky, in quiet contemplation. Somehow, her fingers don’t itch – an artist’s itch, she would say, in jest – to draw, take a picture, or to otherwise commemorate the majestic beauty of the twilight sky in some manner. She just wanted to watch it in silence, storing it for safekeeping in her collection of memories (since she grew up in the Underworld, she’d always been fascinated by the sky). Maybe she’ll remember the rapping of his fingers too, that occasionally punctuates the comfortable silence between them (and the music playing in the background). She let them stay in this comfortable silence for a moment, leaving him to his music and letting the hum of the engine do the talking. He was humming, too, and she commits it to memory. 

“Have you heard from your mother?” She asks, finally breaking the silence. She knew that she probably shouldn’t, since his expression immediately darkens. 

“Still no word.” He answered after a certain amount of silence, shrugging. It was supposed to be a dismissive gesture, but judging from the way he gripped the steering wheel, or the very specific and familiar manner of avoiding eye contact, she knows that it was a big deal. She didn’t press it, though.

Later, they arrived in Zagreus’s place. She kissed her brother on the cheek, and he greets them amiably. She turned to say goodbye to Thanatos, but her brother said that it’s fine, he can join them if he wants, since he’s pretty much an honorary member of their family now. She wasn’t sure if he’d accept, since this isn’t the first time and he’d steadfastly refused before (and she glared in private at him later, it’d become a routine for them), but this time, he didn’t object, and she marveled at that fact before they both were ushered in by her brother. (She would tease him about it later.)

“Where’s Mel?” She inquires, helping her brother with dinner in the kitchen some time after that. Her brother winced at her words.

“She’s, um, she’s on her way. Said she had to do something first.” He shrugs. “But she’ll come.” He hastily added, seeing the cloud of righteous wrath on his sister’s face. Melinoe has tried to skip the sibling bonding night before, only to meet with Macaria’s fury. _That_ was an incident they do not discuss. (It was an unspoken rule in their family: You don’t anger Persephone. Or Macaria. _If_ you want your sanity intact.)

Then there was some commotion in the sitting room, and they both rushed to check out what it is. 

“What are you guys on about?” Zagreus was the first to break the question, after a stunned silence. 

“ _She_ was raging about something,” Thanatos said, motioning at Melinoe (who had just arrived) with his cigarette, looking just as miffed as them. “I’m not quite sure what.” He took a long drag, as if to prove his point.

“Mel,” Macaria quickly interjected, sharply. “What’s up?”

“I was just outlining the finer points of a _family event_ ,” her younger sister deadpans, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Just because he’s fucking you doesn’t mean he get to crash our movie night, too.” 

Macaria was about to reprimand her for that, but Zagreus stepped in. “Come on, sis, don’t be rude.” He crossed the room, placing a calming hand on Melinoe’s shoulder. “Thanatos can join us every now and then, yeah? And I’ve made you some coffee, with cream. Your favourite.” 

“Mmm,” Melinoe responded, still looking a bit argumentative, but mostly defused. (If there’s anyone who can defuse her whenever she’s throwing one of her infamous tantrums, it’s Zagreus.) “I’m _still_ not staying the night.” 

Zagreus then proceeded to slowly led Melinoe to the kitchen to get her coffee, while trying to cajole her from whatever she’s telling him she’s going to do. “Be back for a bit,” Her brother informed, leading her now-defused little sister away. 

“Sorry about that,” Macaria said, plopping down beside Thanatos on the couch. “She’s not always like that.”

“It’s fine,” he replied, unruffled. “I’ve had to deal with Eris. She’s worse. She’ll give Melinoe a run for her money.” 

“Ugh, yeah, that’s horrible.” She cringed, imagining having to deal with the infamous Discord herself. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Every family meeting is like the Trojan war with her around.” He continued, putting an arm around her shoulder, taking a drag with the other. “We even joked that she was adopted, you know…”

They talked about the horrific crimes their siblings have committed against them for a bit, until Zagreus was back with Melinoe in tow. She was glaring at them. 

“Getting cozy now?” She shoots, grabbing a chair and promptly sat on it. Zagreus let out a long sigh. 

“Yeah, sort of.” Thanatos countered, which earned him an elbow to the ribs (courtesy of Macaria). “How’s it going with Moros?” Unperturbed, he carries on anyway, despite Macaria’s glares.

Melinoe looked part flustered, part angry, but wholly about to explode. She fumed, and Macaria liked to imagine that she could see steam coming out of her sister’s ears. “It’s none of your business,” she hissed.

“How did _you_ know, anyway?” Her brother, who was evidently stunned (again, the second time this night) by the sudden burn-duel, obliviously asked. 

“We’re brothers,” Thanatos said, still looking untroubled at all fronts. Macaria really doesn’t understand why he could look so calm, when everything was going to hell around him. She supposed it was a useful ability, but it really was misused right now. She would kill him with her glare if she could. “Sometimes we hang out.” He continued. “And I know what he’s been up to. Well, sort of.”

“Oh…” Zagreus, poor sweet Zagreus, was still standing there, looking as if he was told that Thanatos had an important nuclear code in his possession and was about to use it to blow up the world to bits. Macaria wanted to smack and hug him at the same time. 

“It’s still _none_ of your business.” Melinoe cuts in sharply. “Can we just watch the movie now?”

Zagreus looked relieved. “Yeah, sure. Let me just get it and play it.”

“Do you like him?” Thanatos persists, lighting another cigarette. “Or are you still crushing over Iris?”

Sore topic. From the tic of her eye, Macaria knows that her sister could go berserk any second now. She quickly gave her brother the “let’s defuse the situation” code (he hasn’t even left when Thanatos brought out the wrong topic) and pull the aforementioned offender by the arm. “You.” She said, tersely, not leaving any room for questions. “You’re coming with me.” She hooked her arm on his and pulled him to his feet, then dragged him, despite his protests, to the kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see her brother doing the same to Melinoe.

“What, in the name of my father,” she started, releasing her grip once they were in the kitchen, “were you doing there, winding her up like that?” 

He looked mildly irritated, she thought, but that was _good_. She doesn’t like anyone messing with her sister (and the family night, as the eldest) like that, much less her own boyfriend. She waited for his defense, still fuming quietly.

“I was trying to find out what makes her tic,” He said, but quickly clarified, seeing the look on her face. “I mean…my brother is telling me things about her. Well, sort of. And I wonder…”

“I swear, if you do that again, I’m going to slap you.” She glowered, looming over him anyway, despite being shorter than him. “Leave your wonderings out of this.” And then, more calmly, bit jokingly: “You’ve got no social skills whatsoever, haven’t you?” 

“Well, no.” He admitted with a sigh, and she could feel the situation defusing. “I’m not exactly a social butterfly.” 

“I know,” She said, laughing slightly and feeling herself relaxing. “Let’s go back. I hope Zag managed to placate Mel.”

Melinoe has calmed down when they returned to the sitting room, thankfully, though she glared a bit at them when they entered the room. Zagreus was supplying her with a tub of Ben and Jerry’s, helpfully. Macaria tried her best to suppress a laugh. Here was her little sister, the fearsome Goddess of Ghosts…defused via ice cream and eating it straight out of the tub. Her brother mouthed at her about how much she owed him for this (and, later, she also found out that he bribed Melinoe with several rare ghost-type Pokemon, too, so she’ll calm down and not start a sword-and-ghost fight with Thanatos).

“Can we just get on with this?” The bribed goddess was the one who broke the silence, spooning ice cream into her mouth like there’s no tomorrow. “I have to meet up with Tisiphone later.”

“Sure thing,” Macaria responded, really breaking into laughter this time. Her little sister was glaring at her resentfully, but she doesn’t care. “Be nice to each other now, okay?” She patted Thanatos’ shoulder, giving him a special, _don’t-mention-about-Iris-ever-again-or-I’ll-kill-you_ look. 

“I’m not here to make friends,” Melinoe piped, resentment still obvious (and, for all intents and purposes, still spooning ice cream). “But yeah, sure. Only for tonight.”

She thought about making them a get along t-shirt, and laugh at that thought. Thanatos and Zagreus both gave her a weird look, but she shrugged it off. “It’s nothing,” she supplied. “Let’s just start.”

**Author's Note:**

> What happens to Nyx? I think I'm going to write about that someday. I guess for now she's kind of MIA, American Gods-style. Or she'd just finally become like her husband: she lost her "corporeal" form and is now, literally, the night sky in this 'verse.


End file.
